Qualifications & Selection Process for Judges in Illinois & Florida - Essay Example

Running Head: QUALIFICATIONS & SELECTION PROCESS FOR JUDGES IN ILLINOIS & FLORIDA Qualifications & Selection Process for Judges in Illinois & FloridaLecturer:University:In the state of Illinois, there exist two basic methods of selecting a judge. They can either be elected or appointed but this condition depends on the judicial position they are applying for. However, either way the opportunity of becoming a judicial judge in Illinois remains a challenging one. It is a prerequisite that before u become eligible to be a judge in the state of Illinois, first you must be a United States citizen who resides in the state in addition to the fact that the potential individual should have a valid and licensed certificate in the same state.

The candidate should also have a record of good behavior and integrity as well as capable of communicating both in spoken and written English. On condition that an individual does not meet the above named qualifications then it means that he or she is not eligible to vie for any judiciary position in the state of Illinois (Sara, 2005).The judiciary of Illinois consists of the supreme, appellate, and circuit courts. The judges are first elected through partisan elections where they are capable of serving ten year terms but on condition that there exist a vacancy on the court; then a supreme court appointment is necessary.

The other serving justices have the role of electing the chief justice of the court where he serves for three years only. As for the appellate courts in Illinois, the conditions are similar in exception of the condition that the chief justice is only supposed to serve for one year term. The chief justice in circuit courts serves an indefinite term but the judges can serve a six year term (Charles & Maule, 2003).Judges in Illinois can be dismissed from work through an inquiry from the judicial board after complains are launched by the commission of the court.

After a hearing, the commission has the authority to suspend or completely dismiss a judge from tenure if he or she is found to have acted in a substandard manner. Alternatively, judges can also be dismissed from work through a majority vote from the House of Representatives as well as a majority of two thirds of the senate vote (Sara, 2005).In Florida, the judicial system consists of four levels and in our case study we are going to limit our research on the first level; the level of a County Court Judge.

To qualify for the position of a County Court Judge in Florida, an individual must have been a member of the Florida Bar for a period of not less than five years in addition to the fact that he or she must be a member of the county he or she is vying for to serve even though there exists some exception of residency in some smaller counties (Charles & Maule, 2003). The selection process consists of three major steps where the initial step is that the potential candidate must qualify for the ballot.

The second step calls for the candidate to be non-partisan during the primary election, if a candidate is capable of gathering more than 50% of the total votes at this point, then he or she is automatically elected as a County Court Judge, where there exists no general election for the designated office. The third and the last step is determined by the previous results where if no candidate received more than fifty percent of the total votes during the primary elections, then it means that that the two candidates with the highest number of votes will have to be subjected to another vote and the person who earns the highest number of votes becomes the winner and automatically assumes the post of a County Court Judge (Sara, 2005).

ReferencesCharles, S. & Maule, L. (2003). Choosing Justice: The Recruitment of State and Federal Judges. Washington State University Press.Sara, M. (2005). Electing Justice: A Handbook of Judicial Election Reforms. American Judiciary Society